Behind Closed Doors
by letitmoveyou
Summary: Sonic and Shadow have been together for some time now, and even though Sonic puts on a happy face, Knuckles is determined to prove that their relationship is not going as well as Sonic would have everyone believe. Sonadow/Sonuckles.
1. Chapter 1

"You could at least _pretend_ to listen, Shadow," I say, pacing around our shared living room. I'm trying to tell him about the giant acid-spitting robot Eggman sent after me and Tails, that I promptly destroyed, with a little of Tails's assistance I guess, and he's flipping through the pages of some novel like I'm not even there.

"Like I haven't heard you prattle on about destroying robots before," he responds in his rough, deep voice. He closes his book and sits it on our white couch, walking over to the kitchen without even glancing in my direction. I follow him.

"That's not the point, Shadow. I listen to _you_, on the rare occasion you actually speak," I say, pulling myself onto the smooth, black countertop. He turns around after washing his glass and finally looks at me. He narrows his eyes and sits his glass down beside me, wrapping his arms around my waist and placing me back on the ground. "The chairs are in the living room, Sonic," he says, picking up his glass again and walking to the stainless steel fridge. Like that's the only reason he did that. He just wanted an excuse to touch me.

He just pours his stupid juice, still not contributing anything to the conversation I was trying to have with him. Guess I should try harder.

"Like I was saying, but you probably wouldn't know because you don't listen to me," he rolls his eyes and walks back over to the living room, sitting his glass on the coffee table and starting to open his book. I snatch it out of his hand before he can start reading again and open it to a random page, scanning it.

" 'The blood was all over him and their screams filled his ears. He locked the door with a satisfied smirk and went to wash off the events of the day'? The hell are you reading, Shadow?" I ask, snickering. I didn't expect him to be reading a Harlequin romance, but I didn't expect whatever that was either. I guess I offended him or something because he snatched the book back out my hand and started walking to the bedroom, leaving his juice behind on the table.

"As if you really care what anyone else has to say, if it isn't all about you that is," he says, lying down on the bed and closing his eyes. What is he implying?

"I always listen to people, Shadow. I might be slightly more interested if it's about me, but I don't ignore people, like you do," I say, climbing next to him on the over-sized bed. He keeps his eyes closed and turns his back to me. He is not getting rid of me that easily. I pull his shoulder back so he's lying on his back again, and I climb on top of him. He opens his eyes to give me his usual dirty glare and pushes me off of him. Nope, still not done.

I reassume my previous position and hold his shoulders down this time, locking my green eyes with his red ones. I lean down to kiss him and he lets me, just to throw me off again once I pull away.

"You know you want me, Shadow," I say playfully, forgetting about our previous discussion. He's not budging, and I'm in the mood for something else now, anyway. That must perk his interest because he rolls back over, looks at me for a moment, and pulls me closer to him. Bet he wants to pay attention to me now.

Just as I'm getting on my back and Shadow is positioning himself on top of me, we hear a knock on the door. Shadow's ears twitch but he doesn't say anything about it, or stop touching me for that matter. As much I would love to ignore it as well, it could be something important.

"Shadow…Shadow, come on, you know you heard the door," I say, finding it a bit difficult to gather my thoughts as he kisses me all over. He stops and sighs heavily, looking behind him, waiting for whoever it is to knock again, I guess. They do just that, and when Shadow moves I roll off the bed to go answer.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with one of your little friends, Sonic," Shadow calls from the bedroom. "They're your friends, too," I yell back, and hear a scoff in response. He should probably get in the mood fast because ninety-nine percent of the time someone knocks on our door, it's for me. I see that this time is no different since when I open the door, I see none other than my favorite red echidna.


	2. Chapter 2

"Come on in, Knuckles," I say as I step aside so he can enter the apartment. He's never actually been here before, so he looks around the room for a minute, smiling until he spots Shadow who just came out our bedroom.

Knuckles hasn't been here for thirty seconds, but Shadow wastes no time trying to make him feel unwelcome. "What do you want, Knuckles?" he asks, narrowing his eyes.

Knuckles returns the gesture and points over to me with his thumb. "I came here to see Sonic, not you," he replies angrily. Shadow folds his arm over his chest and looks at me, like he expects me to kick him out or something. I won't do that, but I don't think having these two in the same room is going to end well, so I make a suggestion.

"Come on, Knuckles. Let's go see what Tails is up to," I say, hoping Shadow and Knuckles will stop trying to murder each other with their eyes. They break their staring contest and look over at me, and Knuckles starts to walk toward the door. I follow and before I can step outside with him, Shadow grabs me by the arm.

"I don't want you going anywhere with him," he says, squeezing my arm tighter. I shake my arm loose from his grip and poke my head out the door. "Can you give me a minute, Knuckles?" I ask. I don't know how long this is going to take. He nods and starts walking down the corridor.

I leave the door ajar and turn around to face Shadow, sighing heavily. "What's your problem, Shadow?" I ask, and he still looks pissed even though there's absolutely no reason to be angry with me, or Knuckles.

"You think I never noticed the way he looks at you, Sonic?" I haven't the slightest clue what Shadow is talking about, and my expression must give that away. "You know he likes you, Sonic." I have to laugh at that one.

"Everyone likes me, Shadow," I say with a smirk, turning and reaching for the door knob.

Shadow walks in front of me and closes the door all the way, standing in front of it like a shield. He crosses his arms over his white-furred chest, narrowing his bright red eyes as if daring me to try and pass him. As if I couldn't.

"Don't play dumb, Sonic. You know what I mean," he says.

"I sincerely have no idea what you're getting at, Shadow," I say, rolling my eyes. I'm not kidding, I really _don't _know what's gotten into him.

Shadow shakes his head and sighs in frustration, still blocking the door. This is taking too long, I don't want Knuckles to think I'm not going. I start to move Shadow out of the way and push him behind me, but he grabs hold of my shoulders.

"Really? You honestly had no idea, didn't pick up on any hints whatsoever, that he likes you? Why do you think he hates me so much?" he asks.

"The same reason anyone else would hate you-you're an ass," I say with a smile and go to turn the doorknob again. Shadow swats my hand away from it and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me against him.

The position Shadow has me in is reminding me of the activity we were going to begin before Knuckles interrupted us. I better go now before we start again and I completely forget about what I was supposed to be doing.

I turn around to face Shadow and plant a kiss on his cheek. "You never struck me as the insecure type, Shadow. Maybe you should work on your self-esteem instead of accusing my friends of being in love with me-"

"You go with him and you're not getting back in this apartment," he says. I raise my eyebrow, wondering if he's being serious, then I laugh. He can't lock me out of my own apartment just for going out with a friend.

He continues to stare at me, awaiting a response. I've already made Knuckles wait long enough, and I know I'd be getting pretty impatient by now, so I turn around and walk out the door. Shadow will just have to get over it.


	3. Chapter 3

"What was that all about?" Knuckles asks as we exit the building and start our walk to Tails' workshop. I would just pick him up and run there like I normally would, but I had a feeling he would want to talk about what just happened.

I'm still not sure what Shadow was on about back there, but I'll be blunt. "Shadow is jealous because he thinks you like me. He was trying to convince me not to go with you because he thinks you're gonna try and make out with me or something," I say and laugh at Knuckles' wide-eyed expression. His dreads sway back and forth as he shakes his head, a disbelieving scoff escaping his lips.

"This is what I'm talking about, Sonic. You see how he tries to control you?" he asks, arms outstretched like he's pleading with me. Now it's my turn to scoff. "He may not succeed, but he still tries," he says.

Knuckles groans and clenches his fists, looking away from me. "Nobody controls me, Knuckles. Shadow can try all he wants, but just because we're dating doesn't mean he gets to tell me what to do," I say. That's enough talking for now, I'm ready to run. I grab Knuckles and before he can blink, we're at the entrance to Tails' workshop. I peak through the little window at the top of the door and he's actually not in there, so Knuckles and I walk over to his house next door.

Knuckles knocks heavily and Tails answers almost immediately. He must have been sitting right by the door. When we step inside I see that he was. He has a cup of tea sitting on a table by his chair and the television is on some machinery channel. How predictable.

"Oh, hey you two. I wasn't expecting you," he says.

I grab the remote and throw myself on the couch. Knuckles sits down next to me. "Oh, are we interrupting your 'me time'? Should we give you a ring before we show up?" I ask sarcastically. Tails just gives me a look and returns to his armchair. I start flipping through channels absentmindedly before Tails speaks up again.

"Did you two want something?" he asks in his raspy voice.

"Well, we needed to go _somewhere_ after Sonic's boyfriend kicked me out of their apartment," Knuckles grumbles, slouching on the couch and outstretching his legs. I frown at him and turn back to Tails, who now has a worried look on his face.

I was hoping he wouldn't bring that up here, now Tails is probably going to try and give me life advice. The expression on his face tell me he is, and I lean back on the couch in preparation for his words of wisdom.

"Why would he do that, Sonic? You and Knuckles have been friends for years," he says, looking at me expectantly. I shrug my shoulders and remain silent, I'm sure Knuckles will answer for me, anyway.

Knuckles huffs and throws himself off the couch suddenly, throwing his arms out and pacing around the room as he talks like he's completely and utterly outraged. "You know exactly why he does that, Sonic. He wants to control you, he only wants you to be with your friends when he says it's ok," he says. He gives me a stern look and then glances at Tails to see his reaction.

"Well, that doesn't sound very healthy. How do you feel about that, Sonic?" Oh, so now he's a relationship guru _and _a therapist. Tails does it all.

"Oh, come on, Tails. You're not actually buying this, are you?" I ask incredulously. Knuckles stops his pacing and stands in the center of the room, gawking at me like I just slapped him in the face. Tails responds to my question before Knuckles can begin another tirade.

"Well, I can believe it. Shadow isn't the nicest guy around," he says gently. He looks so genuinely concerned right now I almost want to laugh. There's nothing to worry about, but Tails is looking at me all sad-eyed like I ran in here crying or something.

"Shadow the Hedgehog isn't very nice. In other news, water is indeed wet," I say, rolling my eyes. These two are unbelievable. Knuckles grumbles for the millionth time and resumes his pacing, looking so angry he might start burning holes in Tails' floor.

Tails crosses his legs and sips his tea. Part of me really thinks he's enjoying this, playing the voice of reason despite being the youngest by far. He looks at me with those sad blue eyes and sighs. "Yes, well, do you really want to be in a relationship with someone like that? I mean, I would think you of all people would deeply resent the idea of being controlled by someone," he says, taking another sip from his teacup.

You've got to be kidding me. "Why are you listening his nonsense?" I say, pointing my thumb at Knuckles who shoots me a dirty glare. "Shadow doesn't control me. Nobody controls me. Yeah, he told me not to go with Knuckles, but I'm here with him, aren't I? If Shadow 'controlled' me, I would have told Knuckles to take a hike the second Shadow gave him a dirty look," I say. Tails nods in consideration.

"I suppose that's true," he says, taking another sip of tea. Knuckles stops stomping around and reclaims his seat next to me on Tails' brown couch.

"Why exactly did he kick you out, Knuckles? I doubt it was just because he wanted Sonic to himself or something. I visit pretty often and he's never kicked me out. Even when Amy comes along he doesn't seem any more…unpleasant than he usually is," Tails says.

"He thinks Knuckles wants to challenge him for my affection," I say dramatically and laugh when Tails' eyes go wider and Knuckles groans.

Tails regains his composure and looks from me to Knuckles. "Well, do you?" he asks simply.

I turn to Knuckles and wait for his response. This should be good.


	4. Chapter 4

Knuckles' eyes go wide and he looks at Tails like he desperately wants him to yell 'Just kidding!' so we can change the subject. Tails does no such thing. Knuckles looks at me with this distressed expression on his face and I have to laugh at how flustered he is right now.

"W-what kind of question is that?" he stammers. Tails keeps staring at him, waiting for a proper answer.

"Relax, Knux. If you get any more worked up your cheeks will be as red as your fur," I say. He frowns as he looks back at me and gets up from the couch once again.

"That's not what this is about, Tails!" he says, throwing his arms in the air and then throwing them back down in frustration.

Tails is unfazed, looking at Knuckles through half-lidded eyes. "You don't have to get bent out of shape about it, Knuckles. If you like Sonic you can just say so, it's not like anyone will have a problem with it-aside from Shadow, obviously," he says. Knuckles' eyes look like they're about to pop out of his skull and roll onto Tails' carpet.

"He's right, Knuckles. Just be honest with yourself. Everyone knows how irresistible I am, they'll totally understand if you're in love with me or something," I tease because I am loving Knuckles' facial expression right now. This is just too good.

"What are you two on about? Weren't we talking about Shadow and-" He's interrupted by a light knock on the front door. Tails get up to answer it, and I hear that familiar shrill voice.

"Hey, Tails! I was just stopping by to-oh! I didn't know you were here!" Amy says as she steps into the living room and sees me and a still flabbergasted Knuckles sitting on the couch. She walks over to us and gives me a hug. Me being in a relationship hasn't stopped her from being touchy-feely.

She pulls away from me and sees Knuckles, punching him on the shoulder playfully. "Hey you!" she says. Knuckles waves at her and leans back on the couch, probably grateful for the interruption. Amy turns her attention back to me and puts her hands on her hips.

"I stopped by your apartment, but Shadow told me I had just missed you. He seemed irritated and rushed me out before I got the chance to ask where you went, but now I know," she says, smiling and squeezing into the spot between me and Knuckles.

"There's another chair over th-" Tails begins, then immediately stops talking when Amy shoots him a dirty glare. He gets the hint and takes his seat by the table.

Knuckles groans and moves to the side, leaning on his armrest. Just as he does that Amy pops up from her seat, unclasping the gold buckles and digging into her brown purse. "I almost forgot why I came here. I wanted to give you this, and since you're here, I can give you yours," she says as she hands Tails and me what looks like some sort of invitation. According to her fancy script handwriting written in blue ink, it _is_ an invitation-to a dinner party in a few days. "I didn't forget you, Knuckles," she adds as she hands him one too, with the ink on his written in red.

Tails scans his invitation briefly and when he sits it on the table, I see that the ink on his is written in yellow. Color-coded invitations. Of course. "A dinner party? What's the occasion, Amy?" he asks.

"There needs to be an occasion for me to have my friends over? I just want everyone to get together and have a good time!" Amy says in that cheerful voice of hers as she takes her place in the center of the couch and throws her arms around my shoulders.

Tails takes another look at his invitation then looks back at Amy. "It's kind of short notice, don't you think?" Tails asks. Amy shrugs and lets go of me, opting to rest her head on my shoulder instead.

Knuckles, Amy, and I stay at Tails' house for a couple more hours until it starts to get dark out. "I should be getting back home," Knuckles says, getting up from the couch and stretching his arms.

"I should be heading out too, Shadow probably can't stand being away from me for so long," I say and see Tails roll his eyes at me.

"Well, I guess I should take my leave too. I'll see you three at the party, right?" Amy says as she gets up from the couch too, adjusting her purse. She waves and walks out the door, leaving the three of us in the living room.

Knuckles and I follow soon after. I think Tails was ready for us to leave, he was looking pretty tired.

"Do you want me to take you home, or will Shadow be waiting outside to attack me?" Knuckles asks after we step outside.

"I didn't realize I needed an escort," I say. Knuckles looks offended, but why would he ask me that anyway? He knows I can get home a lot faster if I just run there, why waste time walking with him?

He sighs and turns away from me. "You try to do something nice…" he says, throwing his hands in the air and shaking his head. Whatever. We've been at Tails' house for hours, and I'm ready for some late-night activities with Shadow.

"I'll see ya later, Knucklehead," I say and speed off.

When I get upstairs to my apartment I try and turn the knob, but it won't budge. I keep trying, as if jiggling it harder is going to make it open, but of course that doesn't work. I didn't think to bring my keys with me, but I'm pretty sure Shadow is awake anyway.

I knock loudly just in case he's asleep and wait for a response. I don't get one. I knock again, even louder. Still nothing.

"Shadow? Shadow, are you there?" I yell, still knocking.

"Oh, I'm here Sonic," I hear him clearly from the other side of the door.

"Well, do ya think you can let me in? What's the deal?" I say.

"We had an agreement, Sonic," he says simply, as if that explains everything. I don't know what deal he's talking about, but he better…wait. Seriously?

"Is this about me leaving with Knuckles? Are you for real, Shadow? We went to Tails' house, we didn't go screw each other in some cheap motel," I say. I hear Shadow throw out his usual 'Hmph' and that's all. I don't hear him walking over to unlock the door like he should be doing.

I start jiggling the knob some more like that will solve something. "You're being ridiculous, Shadow," I say, giving up and resting my forehead against the door.

"I told you if you went with him you wouldn't get back in this apartment. You should have listened," he says in that low, smug voice. If only I could slap him through the door.

"Are you going to make me break the door down, Shadow?" I ask.

"You can do whatever you want Sonic," he says in that same annoying tone of voice, trying to act like he doesn't care. Clearly he does or he wouldn't be getting all whiny and jealous like this for no reason.

A brilliant idea strikes me. "You know what, Shadow? I don't need to break the door down. I don't need to get into this apartment," I say and start walking away.

It's okay if Shadow doesn't want to open the door, I'll just go stay with a friend. A certain red, dreadlocked friend. I'll see how Shadow likes that.


	5. Chapter 5

I run back near Tails' house and find Knuckles still walking. I stop next to him and he pauses, looking startled. "Did you miss me?" I ask, smirking. He looks at me for another second and continues walking.

"What are you doing back here? I thought you were going home," he says.

"Change of plans. I'm going with you. You're all by yourself up there on that island, it's not like you couldn't use some company," I say, smiling my most charming smile and hoping he'll agree to this. Knuckles can be just as grumpy as Shadow, sometimes.

He raises his eyebrow at me and turns away. "Why? Do you _want_ Shadow to try and fight me? I wouldn't want to hurt your little boyfriend," he says confidently, like he just _knows _he can take Shadow. Two guys fighting over me would be kind of hot, but that's not why I'm here.

I don't really want to get into detail, so I don't. "Shadow isn't the boss of me. I feel like going with you, so I am." That's the most information he's getting right now. He looks at me suspiciously for a moment, then shrugs it off.

I've always loved it on Angel Island. All the space to run around, all the nature to admire. I don't know why I don't come here more often. I run around the field surrounding the shrine while Knuckles takes his usual spot, sitting on the ledge beneath the Master Emerald. I run up the steps and sit down next to him, taking in the peace and beauty surrounding this place.

"It's real nice up here, Knuckles. I don't know why you don't invite me more often," I say.

"I didn't invite you this time," he says. I give him a dirty look and he smiles at me, closing his eyes and folding his arms behind his head. We just sit like that for a minute before Knuckles speaks up again.

"You know Sonic, we really haven't seen much of each other lately. After you moved in with Shadow, I just feel like we kind of…" he trails off.

He doesn't look at me as he speaks, he just closes his eyes and waits for me to answer. If only I knew _how_ to answer that. He is right, though. I have noticed that we don't spend nearly as much time together as we did before Shadow and I started dating, I just didn't know how to go about changing that.

"Yeah, well…there's so much to do, you know? Me being a hero and all," I start, trying to lighten the mood. He keeps his eyes closed and hums lightly, waiting for me to continue.

"Well, now that the problem is out there, we can fix it. You get off this island more often, and I'll make more time for you. Deal?" I say. He opens one eye half-way and stares at me for a minute, then closes it again.

"I have a responsibility, Sonic. I can leave Angel Island every now and again, but I can't be away from it for too long. There's nothing stopping you from coming up here, though," he says, then sits up and watches me for a reaction. I do really like it up here, so I don't see why not.

"Sure, why not? I know you can't stand being away from me for too long. Who can?" I say and laugh when Knuckles rolls his eyes. He looks like he's about to fall asleep, so I hop up and run back down the stairs. I'm not all that tired yet, so I might as well take a more extensive tour of the island.

As I'm walking around admiring all the mountains and forestry up here, my mind can't help but wander to Shadow. The nerve of that guy, locking me out of my own apartment. Jealousy is an ugly trait. He doesn't even have anything to be jealous of, which makes this whole thing even dumber and more pointless. I've been friends with Knuckles for years, I think I would have noticed if he had a thing for me. Off all people, I'd think Shadow would have a problem with Amy. Why hasn't he tried to forbade me from seeing _her_? If anything that'd be doing me a favor. _'Oh, sorry Amy-we can't be in the same room. Shadow's orders, what can I do? You can't keep hugging me like that either, wouldn't want him to get angry!'_

I mean, I know he said he'd lock me out, but I thought for sure he was just saying that to get me to stay. I didn't think he'd actually _do_ it. Well, I'll teach him. I'll stay here until it's time for Amy's party, and that's a week from now. He'll be dying to have me come back by then. I'll go with Knuckles to Amy's party, then I'll go back home with Shadow. Until then, I'm going to bond with my old friend.


	6. Chapter 6

"Shouldn't we be getting ready to leave?" I ask, wondering what time it is. Knuckles opens his eyes and looks at me like he has no idea why I asked him that.

"Amy's party. It's tonight," I say, and watch his expression change from mild confusion to realization. I guess he forgot. "How can you tell what time it is up here?" I ask, to which Knuckles shrugs.

"If you want to head back down now, we can," he says.

We do just that and we make it to Amy's house in no time flat. I'm about to walk up the path leading to her front door, but Knuckles stops me. "Is Shadow going to be here?" he asks, his tone of voice matching the stern look on his face. I totally forgot about that. Shadow didn't let me in, so I didn't get a chance to tell him about the party.

"I don't know. I didn't tell him about it, but Amy might have given him his own invitation when she stopped by the apartment," I say. "What does it matter, anyway? You scared of little old Shadow?" I joke to which Knuckles throws out a very Shadow-like 'Hmph' and opens the door.

Looks like we might be on the late side. On the side of the table facing us, Amy is sitting on the end, and Cream and Cheese are next to her. Tails is next to them and on his other side are two empty seats. On the other side with their backs facing us are Shadow, Rouge, Vector, Espio, and Charmy. Everyone looks up or turns their heads when they hear the door close and Amy gets up from her seat.

"It's about time you two showed up! The invitation said seven o'clock, not come-whenever-you-feel-like-it o'clock!" she says as she grabs us both by the arms and escorts us to our seats-me next to Tails, and Knuckles next to me. I see all the food laid out on the table, looking completely untouched.

"Can we eat now, Amy? I'm starving!" Vector says as grabs the spoon in the bowl of mashed potatoes and places a giant scoop on his plate. Charmy immediately flies into the kitchen and starts rummaging through things.

"Charmy, those brownies are for dessert! If a single one is missing-!" Amy yells after him.

I smile to myself and when I look directly across from me I see Shadow staring daggers at me. If looks could kill, I would've dropped dead. I didn't say two words to him yet, why is he looking at me like that?

"Nice to see you in such a good mood, Shadow," I say. Rouge stops fixing her plate and looks at Shadow after glancing at me. We give each other a confused look as Shadow keeps staring at me, then averts his look of death to Knuckles.

Tails turns to me and clears his throat. "Can I speak to you in the kitchen, Sonic?" he asks quietly, with an almost fearful look on his face. I get up and Tails follows me to the kitchen, where Amy is chasing Charmy out, threatening him with a large wooden spoon.

I walk further into the kitchen while Tails looks behind him, like he's making sure we weren't followed. He turns back to me with a worried look on his face and speaks in a hushed tone, even though we're the only ones in here.

"Where have you been for the past few days? And please don't say you were on Angel Island," he says, still looking terribly anxious about something.

"I _was_ on Angel Island. So what? I know you're not worried about Stares-A-Lot in there," I ask, pointing in the general direction of the dining room.

Tails glances behind him again then turns back around. "Shadow thought you were with me. I told him I hadn't seen you since you came to my house a few days ago, and he's been sitting there fuming the entire time," he says. I have to roll my eyes at that. Shadow thinks he's _so_ intimidating.

"So? Let him be angry. I didn't do anything wrong," I say and start walking back to my seat in the dining room before Tails can continue.

I don't think I've eaten anything all day, and it feels like it, so I start piling everything on my plate. Rouge giggles as she tears off a piece of her biscuit. "Save some for the rest of us, Blue," she says, throwing a piece of the biscuit in her mouth. I smile and continue piling on the food.

Soon everyone starts conversing amongst themselves; Amy and Rouge are discussing makeup tips or something, Cream and Cheese are chatting up Tails about one thing or another, The Chaotix are telling Knuckles about their most recent case, or Vector and Charmy are telling him, I should say. Espio is mostly nodding and chiming in every now and again. I would start talking to Shadow, but his plate is the latest victim of his stare-a-thon, and I haven't heard him say a word to anyone since I got here.

"So are you just going to pretend I'm not here?" I ask, watching him for a reaction. His eyes stay glued to his half-eaten plate as he responds.

"That was the plan," he says, then goes back to looking at the plate. He's not even eating, he's just pushing things around with his fork. And I thought he was supposed to be the mature one.

"Oh, come on Shadow. Can you nix the attitude for one night? I've missed you, and I know you've missed me," I say. He scoffs, while still looking at his plate of course, and doesn't even offer a glimpse in my direction. I'm getting a little tired of this.

"Would you just look at me, Shadow? I'm trying to be civil here," I say. I'm not going to beg him to pay attention to me, but it's been days since we've seen each other, and I would like for things to go back to normal. I didn't even _do _anything, why is he being so difficult?

I guess Knuckles overheard us because he decides to throw his two cents in. "What's your problem now, Shadow? You mad because Sonic decided to spend time with someone who doesn't treat him like shit?" he asks. That certainly got Shadow's attention.

I don't think this is going to end well.


	7. Chapter 7

"You mind your own damn business, Knuckles," Shadow growls threateningly. Maybe I should have waited until the party was over to talk to Shadow.

"I've minded my own business long enough. I'm tired of hearing you talk to him and treat him any way you want," Knuckles says, and his voice is getting louder and angrier with every word. All the others have stopped talking and are staring at Knuckles and Shadow, waiting to see where this goes.

"I can speak to him and treat him however I damn well please. If you have a problem with that, too bad. He's with me, not you," Shadow says.

Knuckles slams his fists against the table and rises from his seat, leaning forward and getting in Shadow's face. Vector gets up and looks like he prepares to separate them if necessary, but they don't touch each other. Knuckles just growls under his breath while Shadow stares at him coldly.

"We're leaving, Sonic," he says, still staring at Knuckles while speaking to me. Knuckles breaks his gaze on Shadow and turns to me, waiting for my response. Vector sits down, and when I turn away from Shadow I see everyone's eyes glued to me. Under normal circumstances I wouldn't mind all this attention, but not today.

Shadow rises from his seat, unaffected by everyone's stares and silence. I get up as well, then Knuckles' anger is directed at me.

"You can't be serious, Sonic! What happened to you? The Sonic I knew would never-"

"Can we do this later, Knuckles? There are some things Shadow and I need to sort out," I say. I really can't get into this with him right now. He still looks angry, but he doesn't try arguing anymore. Everyone keeps gawking at me and Shadow.

Shadow scoffs and starts walking towards the front door. I thank Amy for inviting us and apologize sheepishly for what just happened while she nods and gives me a quick hug. The others whisper their goodbyes, still looking stunned and awkward. They'll definitely be talking about us after we leave. I walk outside and see Shadow waiting by Amy's gate.

Shadow is watching me with this simmering anger as I walk down the stairs and I know I'll have to deal with his crap once we get home, even though I sincerely don't feel like doing that right now. As I approach him I'm about to say something, but before I get a chance to start talking I hear two very familiar voices behind me.

"Knuckles, leave this alone, you'll just make it-"

"You two wait a minute!"

I stand at the bottom of the steps and look behind me to see a still very worried Tails standing in the doorway, clutching the frame and watching Knuckles charge down the steps like he's on some kind of mission.

I turn to see Shadow's reaction. He doesn't move from his spot behind Amy's gate, just watches the echidna approach him with such a livid expression, I'd think he was trying to see if he could set Knuckles on fire just by looking at him.

Tails closes the front door and walks outside to stand next to me as Knuckles marches up to Shadow.

"You know what, Shadow? I'm _not _going to mind my own business. Sonic has been my friend for years and-"

"You desperately wish he was more than that, don't you?" Shadow asks. He looks less angry now, and more smugly satisfied with himself. Knuckles eyes go wide for a moment, like they did when this was brought up at Tails' house a few days ago, but he almost immediately goes back to looking furious.

He raises his fists and leans forward, inches away from Shadow's face. "That's not what this is about!" he shouts. Shadow keeps that same cocky look on his face, like he's already won a prize Knuckles is still fighting for.

I look down at Tails who sighs dejectedly and shakes his head. "I knew having them in the same place would be a bad idea," he mumbles. I start walking toward the two of them to stop this mess before it gets out of hand, but then I see Knuckles' fist flying toward Shadow's face.

Shadow dodges it easily and grabs Knuckles by the wrist, pulling him forward and throwing him behind his back. I run to catch Knuckles before he hits the ground, and when I do he leaps out of my arms immediately and starts charging toward Shadow again. I run between them before they can start trying to kill each other.

"Step aside, Sonic," Shadow says in a dangerously low tone, even lower than usual. He grabs me by my arm and attempts to yank me to the side. I snatch myself away from him and fold my arms across my chest.

"You two are being ridiculous," I say, facing Shadow before turning around to speak to Knuckles.

"I appreciate the concern Knuckles, I really do, but you and Shadow yelling and punching each other all night won't solve anything," I say.

Knuckles seems to mull this over for a moment. He lowers his fists but keeps his eyes narrowed at Shadow, who glances over at Amy's bay window. I follow his field of vision to see Vector and Charmy peeking outside, and when they see us looking at them they immediately disappear behind the curtain. Tails is still standing where I left him, looking grateful that things have simmered down.

"We're leaving. Now," Shadow says, looking at me. I sigh and shake my head, glimpsing at Tails and Knuckles. I give them both a quick nod before I turn back and start running. I go a little slower than I usually would so I can look back to make sure Shadow is following me and didn't stay behind to continue his little brawl with Knuckles. When I see him behind me I pick up the pace, and Shadow arrives at our apartment a couple of minutes after I do. He walks past me and takes his key out.

"You mean I'm allowed inside, now?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. He doesn't respond, doesn't even acknowledge that I said anything, and walks inside. I follow him and close the door behind me. I am not looking forward to this discussion, but I can't just pretend that that whole episode at Amy's house didn't happen.

Shadow stands in the center of the living room with his back to me. I walk closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder, but he doesn't move.

"That really wasn't necessary, Shadow. We couldn't just have a decent dinner? Why do you insist on being so dramatic all the time, ignoring me and getting into it with Knuckles like that? This was supposed to be a-" I'm cut off when Shadow finally turns around and _punches me in the face._

"The hell was that for?" I ask, picking myself up off the ground and rubbing my cheek. Talk about an overreaction.

"So you're defending that red imbecile now? And _I'm_ the one who's in the wrong when you're the one who's out screwing other people?" he growls furiously.

"Screwing other people? What are you talking about, Shadow?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Sonic. Don't act like you weren't staying on Angel Island for the past few days, with _him,_" he says with disgust. He narrows his eyes at me and looks like he wants to take another swing, but doesn't. I would hit him back, but then we'd really get into it and end up killing each other or something. That certainly wouldn't accomplish anything. It's times like this I really wonder what it is I see in Shadow.

As he starts storming off to our bedroom, I follow him. "Is that really what this is about? You kick me out of our apartment, leaving me no choice but to stay with a friend, and then when I do you accuse me of sleeping with him? Makes a lot of sense, Shadow," I say, throwing my hands in the air and shaking my head.

Shadow turns around and gets in my face again, jabbing his index finger into my chest. "Don't give me that. You're friends with damn near everyone in town, and off all people, you had to stay with Knuckles on some far-away island? Why couldn't you stay with Tails, or Amy, or _anyone_ else?" he asks accusingly.

Just when I think he couldn't make any less sense. "Amy? You know for a _fact_ Amy likes me and you would be okay with me staying with her, but you _suspect _Knuckles likes me, and you flip out because I stayed with him for a few days? What goes on in that head of yours, Shadow?" I ask, taking my fist and knocking against the side of his head lightly. He slaps my hand away and shakes his head, a look of disgust and frustration etched on his face.

"Like Amy is really a threat to me. I know her feelings are unrequited," he says, turning away from me and walking to the other side of the room. He stands with his back to me, looking at the ground and not saying anything more. I suddenly realize what his previous comment implied, and I have to stop myself from laughing.

"Let me get this straight: are you telling me that you aren't so sure the 'feelings' you think Knuckles has for me aren't requited?" I ask, stepping closer to him. He turns to the side and the look on his face says it all. He _cannot_ be serious.


	8. Chapter 8

With a person like me dating a person like Shadow, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. For some reason, I never thought this was one of them. Shadow is always so cool and confident, and acts like nothing fazes him. I never thought he'd be the 'jealous boyfriend' type, but he's been surprising me lately. He's pacing around the room, eyes narrowed and fists clenched, like I've already confessed to some terrible deed and he's contemplating how to punish me for it.

"Shadow, be reasonable. When have I ever given you any reason to think that I had eyes for anyone other than you?" I ask, walking up to him and putting my arms around him, hoping that will abate his anger at least a little. He finally makes eyes contact with me and I seize the opportunity to kiss him, and to my surprise he doesn't pull away. When we do stop kissing he still looks pissed, and he breaks our embrace so he can resume his paranoid pacing.

"This will not happen again, Sonic. Is that understood?" Shadow says sternly, looking me right in the eyes.

"You mean you won't lock me out of our apartment in a jealous rage again? No complaints here," I say, smiling and turning around so I can go get a drink from the kitchen.

Shadow grabs me by the wrist and turns me around to face him. "You know exactly what I mean, Sonic. You will have no contact with him. Period," he says, tightening his grip on my wrist and lowering his voice to show he means business. I shake my head and scoff.

"You think just because you're my boyfriend you can tell me who I can and can't speak to?" He doesn't react to this, just keeps staring me down, waiting for me to continue. "I've been friends with Knuckles for years-long before I even knew you, Shadow. I'm not going to cut off all contact with him just because you feel threatened," I say, causing Shadow to snatch his hand away from my wrist and go stomping out of the room. I don't enjoy making Shadow angry, but it's incredibly easy to do, and he is most definitely in the wrong right now.

He leaves me alone in our bedroom and I can hear him rummaging around in the kitchen. I want nothing more than to crawl into bed and doze off, and I'd enjoy that even more if he were next to me-but I don't think that's happening tonight.

I go into the kitchen to see him pouring himself a glass of wine. I stand on the other side of the counter as he stares at me coldly, like he thinks that will make me break down and take back what I said. I walk to his side of the counter and hug him from behind, placing a hand on his furred chest and resting the other on his stomach. "You can stay in here and be angry if you want Shadow, but I'm going to bed and I'd like for you to join me." He pulls himself away from me and flings the wine bottle across the room with a yell. I hear Shadow stomping away from me as I watch as the bottle shatter and the red liquid drip down the wall. I am _not_ cleaning that.

He stands with his back to me and I can see that he's breathing heavily. I brace myself for the inevitable invective about to come my way. He storms back over to me and gets as close to my face as possible without kissing me. "If I find out that anything has happened between you two, _anything at all_, I will kill him. And don't think I'll hesitate to do the same to you," he says before walking away to pick up the glass on the floor. If that had come from pretty much anyone else, I might have been at least slightly worried. But Shadow? It's not like I've never heard it before.

I roll my eyes and head back to our bedroom, throwing myself on the bed and curling up under the covers. Shadow comes in after a few minutes, but doesn't say a thing. He doesn't wrap his arm around me or run his hand down my leg like he sometimes does either, not that I would expect him to after what just happened. I do miss that, though. I turn around to face him and of course he has his back to me. "Shadow?" I say. I don't really expect him to say anything, but it's worth a shot. "Shadow?" I call again after getting no response. More silence. "I know you're still awake, Shadow," I say.

"I have nothing to say to you, Sonic," he says, the black and red spikes on the back of his head still the only thing I see. Fine. If he wants to be difficult, he can be.


	9. Chapter 9

It's been a few days since my little disagreement with Shadow, and he's still being whiny and pissy. Even more so than usual. I actually got out of bed early today so I could make him breakfast, because that is the amazing boyfriend that I am, and he sits there eating it without saying a single thing to me. As I'm sitting across from him at our small, round table I decide to say something about it. "Don't you have something you want to say to me, Shadow?" I ask, watching him chew his pancakes and read his paper, acting like I'm not even there, like he always does. He doesn't react to my question and I sigh, getting up from the table and heading to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asks.

"Oh, _now_ you want to talk to me?" I ask, turning around and crossing my arms. He doesn't respond, just stares me down, expecting me to answer _his_ question.

"I'm just going for a run, Shadow. You know, that thing I do every day?" I say. He immediately gets up from his seat and rushes over to me, grabbing my arm and yanking me away from the door like being near it offends him somehow.

He keeps hold on my arm until he drags me back to the kitchen, where he lets me go and gives me that same cold, stern look he's been giving me a lot lately.

"You're going to go back to find _him_, aren't you?" he asks.

"Oh, enough already, Shadow. I'm not going to see Knuckles, and even if I was-so what?" He bares his teeth at me in a snarl and grabs me, throwing my body into the kitchen table. The table topples over, and his half-eaten plate of pancakes falls on the floor next to me.

What just happened?

"If I find out you've been seeing him behind my back-" he starts as he walks over to me, lifting me to my feet and getting in my face.

"You won't do a thing about it, Shadow. And if you attack me one more time, I'll fight back-and don't think I'll go easy on you," I say as I as push him away from me and walk away, wanting to go on my run even more now.

I run out the door and head straight to one to my favorite spots. There's this meadow fairly close to our apartment, and I like to go there to clear my head. I'm always surprised at the lack of people, but it's a pretty big place, so I guess most people stay closer to the entrance and don't venture too deep in there. Once I get there, I spot my favorite tree and run up the side of it, resting on the tallest branch. I haven't been here in a while, but all the trees and flowers look just as beautiful as they always do.

As I adjust my position on the branch, I feel a sharp pain in my side. Guess it still smarts from Shadow's little outburst. I frown to myself and put a hand to my side, feeling it throb lightly. It's nothing too bad.

I fold my arms behind the back of my head and lean back on the tree, closing my eyes. I don't know how long I stay like that, but after a while someone starts talking to me.

"Hey there, Blue," I hear Rouge say. I open my eyes to see her floating in front of me, waving her gloved fingers. I'm about to ask her how she got up here, then I remember she's a bat.

"Hey, Rouge. What brings you here?" I ask. She flies in front of me on the branch and sits down, crossing her legs and putting her hands on her knees.

"I was nearby. I thought I saw you zoom past me, and I know Shadow mentioned you like places like this, so…" she explains.

"So you followed me here? What for?" I ask. Rouge and I have never spoken much before, so I can't think of any reason why she'd want to talk to me now.

The smile drops off her face before she starts her explanation. "I've been wondering about you and Shadow, after Amy's party and all," she starts. Oh, so _that's_ what this is about. I don't respond and let her continue.

"I just…wanted to make sure you two were okay. Shadow has been more distant than usual, which may as well be across country for him," she says, waving her hand around for emphasis.

I readjust myself on the branch so my legs dangle on either side of it, which makes my side hurt again. I wince a little but stop myself from grabbing it, even though I'm pretty sure she still noticed. She looks at me sadly and suddenly I'm not too comfortable having this conversation.

"He did that, didn't he?" she asks gently, eying my side and then looking back at me.

"Did what?" I ask. She gives me a look that says she knows I'm full of it, but doesn't say anything else about it.

"Look, I know Knuckles is cute, but-"

"What are you talking about?" I ask. Really? Now _she_ thinks Knuckles and I have are having covert romps on Angel Island too? Shadow must have poisoned her mind with his jealous rants.

She looks slightly startled for a moment, then continues. "After their fight at the party, I kind of figured you two must have had something going on," she says, shrugging.

I wonder just how much Shadow has said to her about this, if anything at all. I can't see him sharing this kind of stuff with anyone, even Rouge, but I get the feeling it wasn't just what happened at the party that brought this on.

"There's nothing going on between me and Knuckles, not that it would be any of your business if there was," I say, hoping she'll get the hint and leave.

"I'm not trying to get in your business," she says, putting her hands up in defense. "I just…Shadow and I have been friends for a while, and I know how he can be. I'm sure you know he doesn't trust easily-"

"Yeah, I know that. Look Rouge, I appreciate the concern, but Shadow and I are fine. He's jealous, and he's kind of a douche, but we're fine," I say. I just want to get back to relaxing, I don't need Shadow's bosom buddy trying to give me relationship advice.

"Okay, okay. I'll see you later, Sonic. Say 'hi' to Shadow for me," she says, flying off the branch and going off to find a jewelry store to rob or something. After she's gone, I lay back on the bark of the tree and close my eyes. I don't want to think about Shadow right now.


	10. Chapter 10

I wake up on that branch an hour or so later, I'm not sure exactly how long it's been. I think about going home, but decide against it. I don't feel like dealing with Shadow right now. I don't want to go home and act like nothing is wrong, but I'm not going to keep wasting my time trying to talk to him if all he wants to do is punch me every time Knuckles' name comes up in conversation.

Speaking of Knuckles, I think that's where I'll go. I'm not doing it to be spiteful, I'm not doing it because I _want _Shadow to be jealous, I'm doing it because I don't want things to be weird between me and Knuckles after what happened at the party. I have to speak to him again at some point, so why not now? Shadow won't know I was there anyway, I'm not going to stay for days like I did last time.

At first I don't see Knuckles once I get up there, so I take a quick run around the island to look for him. I spot him picking grapes out of a tree a way's from the emerald and sneak up behind him.

"Some guardian you are. I totally could've stolen the Master Emerald by now," I say. He stops picking his grapes for a moment and looks at me over his shoulder.

"What are you doing here, Sonic?" he asks before turning back around. Well, that's a lovely greeting.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you weren't too happy to see me," I say, placing my hands on my hips. He finishes picking his lunch out of the tree and throws them in a woven basket next to his feet.

"I didn't say that," he says, picking the basket up and walking away without looking at me. I follow him back to the shrine where he sits the basket next to him on the top step. He frowns as I snag a handful and bite a couple off the vine.

I walk around the front of the Master Emerald and when I turn to face him again, Knuckles is staring at me like he's trying to piece something together. "Why do you suddenly keep hanging around me, Sonic? Does watching me and Shadow fight get you off or something?" he asks, grabbing a few grapes for himself. Maybe it does a little, but I'm certainly not going to let _him_ know that. That's not why I'm here anyway. Is it so hard to believe that I just wanted to visit a friend?

"I told you we would spend more time together, so we will," I say. He looks at me skeptically then turns away and shrugs, staring off into the forestry. We sit in silence for a minute, Knuckles looking serious as usual, like he's contemplating the meaning of life. I sit behind him, in front of the Master Emerald, taking in the great view he has from up here.

Knuckles turns his head to face me and I cock my head to the side, waiting for him to say something. He looks like he wants to ask me something, but doesn't say anything for a minute-just stares at me like he's trying to decide if he should ask or not. He does.

"Why Shadow? Of all people, why him, Sonic?" he asks. He doesn't sound or look angry, just genuinely curious.

His question catches me off guard. I know a lot of people don't really _get _me and Shadow or understand why we're together, but no one has just come out and asked like that. I rise from my seat near the Master Emerald and feel a slight jolt of pain in my side, but I'm extra careful with not letting it show on my face.

As I walk next to Knuckles and stand in front of him, his violet eyes follow me and await my response. "As trite as it sounds, you can't help who you love, Knuckles," I say. There's this weird look on his face when I say that, a look I'd almost describe as disappointment. He looks away from me and stares out into the distance again.

"So you love him?" he asks.

My eyes widen a bit at this as I stare at him stare at nothing. Where is this coming from? I guess he just really doesn't get why I would want to be with Shadow, which is understandable. Sometimes_ I_ don't even know why I'm with Shadow. There's also the possibility that that hot-tempered boyfriend of mine was right in his suspicions about Knuckles. I still don't totally buy that, though.

"Yes, I do. Look Knuckles, I know how things look between me and Shadow sometimes, but he's not all bad-he really isn't," I say. I feel this uncomfortable turning in my stomach after I say that, which I actually think may be a smidgen of guilt. I don't know what Shadow is doing right now, but he's probably wondering where I am, and if he knew I was here, especially after what happened at Amy's…I really need to have a talk with him when I get home.

"Does he love you back?" Knuckles asks suddenly after staying silent for a moment.

"What?"

He turns to me and looks me right in the eyes, his tone even more serious than usual. "Does he love you back?" he repeats.

"Well…yeah, he does," I say, wondering exactly where this conversation is going.

"How do you know?" Knuckles asks, rising from his seat and walking over to stand directly in front of me. He looks so serious and the question was so unexpected, I find myself taking a slight step backward.

Why would he ask me that? Why is he looking at me like he absolutely needs to hear my answer? I never thought Knuckles could surprise me much, but he's managing to do it today. I should have had an immediate answer, like I usually do, but for once I'm not sure what to say. I'm really not used to that.

"I just know, okay? How am I supposed to describe it to you?" I say a little huffier than necessary, crossing my arms and turning away.

Knuckles places his palm on my shoulder and turns me back around to face him. I expect him to continue his love inquisition, but he just looks at me for a minute. Really _looks _at me. I know I'm incredibly good-looking, but this is kind of weird. I'm about to ask him what he suddenly finds so fascinating about my face when he pulls me closer to him and kisses me.

Oh, crap. Maybe I _should've _listened to Shadow.


	11. Chapter 11

When we separate, neither of us says a word at first. Before I can think of anything to say, Knuckles leans forward again for round two. I turn my head away from him and back up a bit. He looks hurt, but I need a minute to understand what just happened. And understand why I didn't push him away.

"Knuckles…you know this isn't a good idea," I start. Definitely not a good idea. A horrible idea, I'd say. I would look at him as I speak, but I can't stand to see that utterly defeated expression on his face that he had when I pulled away from him. I can feel his eyes on me and if I turn around and see that face, I don't know if I'd be able to push him away if he tried to kiss me again.

"Why?" he asks, sounding frustrated. I guess he missed the part where I said I loved Shadow. It _was_ an entire fifteen seconds ago, guess I can't expect him to remember.

"I just told you why. I'm…I'm with Shadow, Knuckles. We can't do this," I say, shaking my head. He remains silent and we just stand next to each other awkwardly, waiting for the other to say something else.

Knuckles looks like he's growing slightly angrier by the second, like he's about to launch into yet another rant about why my he thinks my relationship with Shadow is poisonous. He might be right, but I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.

I should probably get home. Things aren't going to do anything but get progressively more uncomfortable here. "I think I'm gonna take my leave, Knuckles," I say. He doesn't respond and doesn't look at me, just stares out into the distance. I sigh and speed away, leaving Knuckles to bask in the awkwardness.

What just happened? Knuckles asks me all these questions about my love life and then he freakin' kisses me. If Shadow were to find out-well, it probably wouldn't make a difference. He probably thinks we're off having sex or something.

I need to tell someone about this. Tails better be home.

When I get to Tails' place, I see through the little window at the top his workshop door that the light is on in there. I open it without knocking and he stops tinkering with whatever machine he's working on to look up at me.

"Hey, Sonic. What's wrong?" He asks, seeing the distressed look on my face. I close the door and start pacing the floor.

"Knuckles kissed me!" I blurt out. Tails' eyes widen slightly and he frowns, putting down his wrench and standing up. He wipes some oil off his hands with an old brown rag and shakes his head.

"Well, can't say I didn't see this coming," he says, sighing.

I start pacing around the lab as Tails puts his tools away. "It was weird. He starts asking all these questions about why I'm with Shadow and if I love him and whatnot, then he just plants one on me," I say, flailing my arms around for emphasis.

Tails finishes arranges his toolbox and closes it, pushing it further back on the table. He scratches the back of his head thoughtfully. "You didn't kiss him back, did you?" he asks.

I don't respond at first, but my sheepish expression must give me away. Tails looks taken aback and stares at me open-mouthed, shaking his head incredulously. "Sonic!" he exclaims, like he can't believe I would do such a thing.

"I didn't kiss him back," I say. Tails looks relieved, until I continue. "I didn't push him away though," I say. Tails goes back to looking shocked.

"Are you crazy? Do you _want_ Shadow to kill him?" he asks.

I stop pacing and pull myself onto the metal table against the wall, sitting next to Tails' gray and yellow tool box. I sigh and rub my forehead, laying my head against the wall.

"Of course not, I just…I don't know. I know I shouldn't have let him do it, but I kind of…didn't hate it," I say. I feel kind of weird telling someone so much younger than me all this, but who else can I tell besides my best friend?

Tails expression changes from shocked to concerned. He doesn't say anything for a moment, which gives me a chance to realize what I just said. I really _didn't _hate that kiss. I _should have_ hated it, but part of me actually wanted to reciprocate. I could practically hear Shadow growling in the back of my mind, so I didn't, but the desire was definitely there. Does that count as cheating? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure Shadow will think it does.

Tails exhales slowly and picks his hands on his hips. "That's a problem, Sonic," he says solemnly.

I lift my head and knock it against the wall repeatedly, closing my eyes tight. "I know, I know," I say. I could've pushed him away, but that wouldn't have changed the fact that the kiss happened. Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

"Do you still want to be with Shadow, Sonic?" Tails asks.

"Yes," I respond with no hesitation. Of course I do.

I think I do.

I'm…pretty sure I do.

"Do you also want to be with Knuckles?" he asks in a low, careful tone. I open my mouth to respond, but I'm not sure what to say. That's twice in one day, this is not good.

I sigh and rattle my head back and forth rapidly, as if that'll actually clear my thoughts faster. "I don't…I don't think so, but…" I begin, then stop. I should have been able to give a satisfying answer to that-an immediate and certain answer, but I find myself fumbling around with it. This doesn't get by Tails, who sighs and shakes his head worriedly.

"You need to sort this out, Sonic. If you know you want to be with Shadow, I think you need to spend some time away from Knuckles. You can't be around your temptation and expect not to be drawn in," he says.

Temptation? I don't know if that's the word _I_ would have used, but Tails has a point. As much as I hate to admit it, I guess Shadow does too. Maybe I do need to put some space between me and my old friend, and focus on repairing the relationship I'm already in.


	12. Chapter 12

"Have you told Shadow what happened, yet?" Tails asks, because clearly he has lost his mind since the last time we spoke a few days ago.

He says it so casually, like _obviously _I'm going to tell Shadow at some point.

"Why would I do that?" I ask incredulously. Tails looks up from the ice cream he was mixing around with his spoon absentmindedly and looks at me like he can't believe what I just said.

"He's your boyfriend, Sonic. You shouldn't keep secrets from him," he says. Oh, Tails. Naive, innocent little Tails.

It's not like I'm flat out _lying _about anything. Shadow is still angry about Knuckles existing and all, but he hasn't actually asked me about him recently. Last time he did, I told him nothing had ever happened between us, which at the time was the truth. Shadow doesn't need to know that that's changed. That's not _lying_, that's just…withholding information.

Okay, it is _kinda_ lying.

I'm not one to condone dishonesty in a relationship, I'm really not. If I had a normal, non-psychopathic boyfriend I might be inclined to agree with Tails. But since I don't, Tails' suggestion isn't even worth considering.

"I don't _want_ to keep secrets from him, but since I value my life, and I'm pretty sure Knuckles values his, I'm not saying a word," I say. I devour the last bit of my chili dog and lean back in my chair, stretching my legs out and crossing my arms. Tails nods in understanding, mixing his now soupy ice cream around some more.

"You know he'll find out eventually, Sonic. These kinds of things never stay hidden for long," he says.

I don't see why not. As of now, a grand total of three people know that Knuckles kissed me-Knuckles himself, me, and Tails. I'm not going to say anything, Tails isn't going to say anything, and unless my rejection hit him so hard he's considering suicide, I don't think Knuckles is going to say anything either.

How am I supposed to make things go back to normal? Now that I know for a fact that for the first time in history Shadow was right about something and I was wrong, I'm really not sure what to do about this.

Knuckles kissed me and I kinda sorta liked it.

Shadow is probably plotting numerous ways to kill him, and that's without him even knowing what happened.

Shadow is still being an atomic asshole and I find myself wondering if I should even stay with him.

Everything is in disarray right now.

I groan exaggeratedly and throw my head back, closing my eyes and rubbing my palms over my eyelids.

"Enjoy your childhood, Tails. Relationships suck," I say. Tails laughs lightly before getting up and putting his bowl in the sink.

He starts washing his dishes while I flip through a magazine nearby and after a minute his doorbell rings.

"You expecting someone, Tails?" I ask. Tails shrugs before walking over to the door and peeking through the window on top.

"It's Knuckles," he whispers, turning around and waiting for my response. You've got to be kidding.

"I'm not here!" I say before running to the back of the house to hide in Tails' bedroom. I press my ear to his door and try to listen to what they're saying, but it's too muffled. I crack open the door so I can hear them better.

"-he might be here. Is he?" I hear Knuckles ask.

"Uhh…no. I haven't seen Sonic at all today," Tails replies. He sounds so nervous he might as well have a sign on his forehead that says 'I'm lying!' in blinking neon letters. Though It's not like Knuckles would ever suspect he wasn't telling the truth, so I guess I shouldn't worry.

"Oh, okay. There's just…something I need to talk to him about," Knuckles says. What is he doing coming over here looking for me? Doesn't he have a giant green rock to stare at? I don't here them talking anymore, so hopefully that means Knuckles is about to leave.

After a minute or so of silence I hear footsteps getting closer and closer to the room I'm in, and Tails peeks his head through the door. "It's safe to come out now," he says. We go back into the kitchen and go back to what we were doing before Knuckles came-Tails washing his dishes and me sitting at the table.

When Tails finishes wiping down his dishes, he grabs the seat across from me and leans forward, his elbows resting on his brown table. "He looked kind of upset, Sonic…" Tails notes sadly, looking guilty like that's somehow his fault. Not that it's really my fault, either. I didn't_ ask _Knuckles to kiss me.

"He'll be fine, Tails. I just need some more time to think things over, then I'll talk to him and set everything straight," I assure him, and myself.

That's all there is to it. I'll clear the air with Knuckles, he'll get over me, I'll get over whatever it was I was feeling around him, Shadow will stop being a complete ass and will go back to being kind-of an ass, he'll stop ignoring me so we can actually go back to being a semi-normal couple, and everything will go back to the way it was. I can fix this.


	13. Chapter 13

I head home after leaving Tails' house and find Shadow sitting on the couch in our living room, flipping through tv channels absentmindedly. This is actually kind of surprising since, now that I think about it, Shadow almost never watches tv. He doesn't even turn his head when the door closes, and I find myself just standing in front of the door for an extra moment or two, just to see if he even acknowledges that he's aware of the fact that I'm home now. He doesn't.

I plant myself next to him on the couch and sit down as obnoxiously as I can, sitting down with an unnecessary amount of force so the couch bounces a little-just to see if that might at least make him shoot me a dirty glance or something. He doesn't budge.

"I'm home, Shadow," I say, leaning forward to stare at him as he stares at the infomercial on the screen.

"My eyes and ears work just fine, Sonic. I know you're home," he says. Well, at least he actually responded. He picks up the remote lying beside him on the couch and starts lifelessly flipping through more channels, not looking at all interested in what's on the screen. Shadow doesn't even like tv, he's just looking at the screen so he doesn't have to look at me. I snatch the remote out of his hand and and turn the tv off, standing and throwing the remote where I had been sitting.

Shadow sighs and looks like he wants to roll his eyes, but doesn't. He looks up at me, same scowl on his face that's there ninety-nine percent of the time. I always heard people say that if you keep your face a certain way all the time it will get stuck like that. I'm starting to think that's what happened to Shadow. I move to stand directly in front of him, blocking the now black-screened television.

Now he's looking at the floor. Of course, because wood paneling is just so riveting. "We don't talk anymore, Shadow. Well, I talk and you don't listen, I should say," I start. He finally makes eye contact and stares at me with his eyes half-lidded, like he's heard this all before. I don't care if he doesn't want to hear it, I'll say what needs to be said.

Before I can open my mouth to continue, Shadow rises from the couch and starts walking away from me without a word, doing a spectacular job of proving my point. I run in front of him and block the door when he reaches our bedroom. He takes a step back and groans like I'm somehow annoying him, because I guess trying to have a conversation with someone who's supposed to be my boyfriend makes me annoying. Shadow logic.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about, Shadow. You think there's something going on between me and Knuckles-I get it," I start. His face scrunches in anger for a brief moment, then he goes back to trying to look nonchalant. I almost expect him to deny that Knuckles being around lately is the reason why he's been acting the way he's been acting, but he doesn't. I guess even he realizes how ridiculous that would be. "I don't know how I'm supposed to prove it to you, but there is nothing for you to worry about. If you just can't get past your irrational jealousy and you don't want to be in this relationship anymore, I suggest you stop wasting your time, and more importantly wasting mine, and just break up with me already," I say.

When I first walked in the door with the intention to give Shadow a talking-to, I didn't quite intend for it to go this way. I just wanted us to communicate more, and wanted him to stop flying into a rage every time Knuckles's name was brought up. That was what I _intended_ to talk about, but

seeing that indifferent look on his face when I walked in, and thinking back to the past couple of weeks is making me see things differently. I'm not one for drama, and that's all Shadow has been causing lately. Trying to forbade me from seeing a friend, locking me out of the apartment, starting fights with Knuckles, starting fights with me for daring to look in Knuckles' general direction. I don't want to break up with Shadow, and I don't want Shadow to break up with me, but maybe that's what this has come to. If he doesn't want to talk to me and try to make this work, why should I even bother trying to sustain a relationship with him at all?

He finally looks at me instead of looking through me like he's been doing throughout most of our one-sided conversation, and instead of looking concerned or apologetic, begging for my forgiveness like he should, he looks angry. Big surprise.

"Is that what you want me to do, Sonic? Is that what this talk is about?" He asks in a dangerously low voice, like he's trying to threaten me. I close my eyes for a moment and sigh heavily, clenching my hands tightly in an attempt to make them stop shaking.

"No, Shadow. I want to be with you, and I want this relationship to work-but not if I'm the only one who cares," I say. His cold stare doesn't waver, and he doesn't say anything else. He just stands in front of me with his eyes narrowed and his arms folded, like he's facing an enemy.

"I love you, Shadow, but I can't say I'm feeling much love in return," I say, shaking my head. I don't like the way he's looking at me, and I don't like the direction this conversation is going, but this needs to be said.

Shadow just stares at me for one final moment before turning around and heading back towards the door. I automatically follow after him with a sinking feeling in my stomach, but I don't know why. I don't think there's anything I can say to change his mind at this point.

"Shadow, stop," I say, grabbing his wrist. He snatches it away from me and walks out the door, slamming it and leaving me to stand behind it alone. All without saying another word.


	14. Chapter 14

Shadow left a few days ago and I haven't heard anything from him. I have no idea where he went and at this point, I don't really care. Maybe we need some time apart. Maybe we're not even a 'we' anymore. I don't know. I also don't know why I'm spending so much time thinking about this. As hard as I've tried to distract myself, my mind has been constantly bringing me back to Shadow.

He probably hasn't thought of me since he slammed the door in my face.

I've been up for a few minutes, but I haven't gotten out of bed yet. I'm still tired, and I just don't have the energy to move right now. I don't have a choice now, though-I hear someone knocking on my door.

I dash out of bed and run to the door, hoping it's Shadow. I wait a moment before opening it, though. I wouldn't want Shadow to think I ran to the door just to answer him. I did, but I don't have to give him the satisfaction of _knowing_ that I did.

When I open the door I see that it isn't Shadow. Of course. It's Knuckles, and when I see him there I remember that I've been avoiding him for the past few days. I kind of forgot about that once Shadow left, but who cares? I guess there's no sense in keeping my distance anymore.

Knuckles frowns when he sees me and looks somewhat confused. "Were you still in bed, Sonic? It's noon," he says. I didn't realize it was that late, but it doesn't matter. I guess it's pretty noticeable when I don't get the chance to neaten my quills.

I maneuver for him to come inside and I shut the door behind him. What's he doing coming over here, anyway? It's not like he knew Shadow wasn't here, he could have easily bumped into him. I guess whatever he has to say is so important he was willing to risk running into Shadow just to tell me. I sit down next to him on the couch and wait for him to explain himself.

He looks at me quizzically and cocks his head to the side. "Did I catch you at a bad time? Are you sick or something?" he asks.

"No," I reply, and I really don't like the sound of my own voice. I sound groggy and tired, so it matches how I feel pretty well. I just want to crawl back in bed, but I can't send Knuckles home. I've avoided him long enough, we had to talk about things eventually.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asks again. I bet Shadow wouldn't care if I was sick or n-you know what? I'm not even going to think about him right now. I'm talking to Knuckles, so I will focus on him.

"I'm fine, Knuckles. What do you want?" I ask, even though I'm pretty sure I know why he's here. His expression changes from concern to slight embarrassment.

Knuckles sighs and begins his explanation, facing the television but glancing at me every now and again. "I just…I just wanted to apologize for what happened. I was out of line, I understand that now," he says, resting his hands on his knees and closing his eyes before continuing.

"I've always…felt something for you, Sonic. But you're with Shadow, and I have to respect that." He says Shadow's name with the slightest bit of animosity, like he wants to start ranting about how much he sucks but managed to control himself enough not to. I think about the last part of that apology and I have to stop a bitter laugh from escaping my mouth.

"I don't know about that last part, Knuckles," I say, watching him for a reaction. He looks confused but doesn't say anything, just waits for me to clarify.

"You said 'I'm with Shadow.' I don't know if that's really true anymore," I say. I try to say that as neutrally as possible, and it sounds like I did a pretty decent job of it. At least I hope I did.

Knuckles doesn't look any less confused.

He looks behind him, towards the bedroom as if he expects Shadow to come waltzing out. He doesn't, of course, so Knuckles turns back to me. "Is that why he isn't here? You two broke up?" he asks incredulously, like he can't believe his luck. He probably isn't being that douchey about it in his head, but whatever.

I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly and Knuckles looks at me like I'm crazy. I guess he's wondering why I'm not more broken-up about my kinda-maybe breakup, and I guess that makes sense, but what does he expect me to do? Burst into tears and write crappy poetry about it? I don't care _that_ much.

"Shadow isn't in the picture right now," I say. Knuckles nods slightly, like he heard what I said but it hasn't fully registered. I scoot closer to him on the couch, close enough that our legs are touching. He looks down in surprise but doesn't move.

"Sonic, are you-" he starts, but I cut him off with a kiss.

I don't know if I should have done that. I probably shouldn't have. At the moment though, I really don't care. Knuckles wants me and I want…someone, so this works for both of us.

When I pull away from him, Knuckles just stares at me at a loss for words. I guess I don't blame him. We continue to stare at each other in silence until Knuckles lunges forward and kisses me, pushing me down to lie on the couch. When he pulls away he looks at me with uncertainty, and I run my hand down his arm that's beside me, resting on the edge of the couch.

"Are you sure you want to…?" he asks, then trails off and glances to the side just to avoid looking me in the face.

"Yes," I say, grabbing the side of his chin and turning it so he's facing me again. He keeps looking at me like he's afraid I'll back out, but I don't.

"What about Shadow?" he asks.

"What _about_ Shadow?" I respond, then pull him into another kiss.

If Shadow cared about what I was doing, he would be here. But he isn't. He's out doing whatever he wants, so _I'm_ going to do whatever _I_ want.


	15. Chapter 15

I don't know why part of me expected Knuckles to be gone by the time I woke up, but he was still here. He's lying next to me in the bed I used to share with _him_, awake but still looking tired. He's just sitting there, shuffling the tv remote in his hand. He didn't actually turn the tv on though, he's not even facing the screen. He's just staring at the door with his eyes half-lidded, looking like he's in deep thought about something.

"Well, hello there," I say. He snaps out of his trance-like state and looks over at me, a small smile on his face.

"Hey," he says. I turn to take a look at the clock on my nightstand. I see that it says 2_:52 PM _in bright green numbers and letters, and I roll back over to face Knuckles again. This feels…very strange. I can't tell if it's strange in a bad way or not, it's just…_strange. _I'm so used to waking up next to a certain black and red hedgehog who shall remain nameless, and waking up next to someone else almost makes me feel dirty.

Knuckles. I just slept with _Knuckles_. I never thought I'd be able to say that. Not that I've ever had any particular desire to say that to begin with. I just hope he doesn't brag about sleeping with me to too many people. I know _I_ would brag about sleeping with me. Then again, Knuckles lives on a giant floating island. Who is he going to tell, the trees?

I wonder how many other people he's had sex with. He has had sex with other people, hasn't he? He must have. Then again, Knuckles _is_ pretty awkward, and I've never heard of him dating anybody before. Maybe I should have asked about this before, but better late than never.

"That wasn't your first time, was it?" I ask with a smirk. Knuckles eyes widen and I have to stop myself from laughing.

"W-what?" he stammers. I sit up and move closer to him, just to get a better look at the hilarious expression on his face.

"I asked, was that your first time?" I repeat. He doesn't answer, but the way he looks away from me and stares at the wall tells me all I need to know. I don't know if I expected that or not, but I can't help but laugh.

"So how was it? I rocked your world, didn't I?" I ask. I don't need him to answer, of course I did. I'm just good like that.

Knuckles doesn't answer me, not that I really expected him to. I think I can actually see him blushing as I wrap my arms around his shoulders. "It's okay, Knuckles. You don't have to answer, your face says it all. The faces you were making in the act said a lot too," I say, to which Knuckles groans and slides under the cover, pulling it over his face. I laugh and pull it back, leaning down to give him a quick kiss.

"Okay, I'll stop," I say, smirking. He smiles sheepishly and sits up again, smoothing his dreads down and leaning against the wall. His face turns serious all of a sudden, like he just realized something. He turns to look at me and I can guess what he wants to ask me about, and I almost start talking to prevent him from bringing it up, but I don't bother.

"Did he like…move out or what?" Knuckles asks. I knew it had to be _something _about Shadow he wanted to ask. I was having a pretty good time pretending he didn't exist, but oh well.

I sigh and shrug my shoulders, staring down at the black sheet over my legs and moving my finger on it in a circle absentmindedly. Knuckles grunts disapprovingly, because I guess my shrug wasn't a good enough answer.

"I mean, he's not coming back, is he?" he asks.

I sigh again. Shadow didn't tell me where he was going, or maybe he did and the sound of the door slamming in my face drowned it out. He could come back today, next week, or never. It's not like either of us have many material objects, If he didn't want to come back here, he wouldn't really have to.

"I don't know, Knuckles. I pretty much asked him to break up with me, so I guess he did," I say, with a little more force than necessary. I can't help but get a little peeved thinking back to the last conversation Shadow and I had. I still don't know if I made the right choice, but what else was I supposed to do? I didn't want to keep dealing with how Shadow was acting, but I didn't actually want him to leave, either.

Maybe I should have gone after him.

No, what good would that have done? He would have yelled at me some more and left all over again.

How do you just walk out on someone like that? Aren't you at least supposed to say 'It's over,' 'We're through,' or _something_?

I hear Knuckles shift on the bed and he moves closer to me, wrapping his arms around me and letting me rest my head on his chest. "I'm sorry I brought it up, I just…wanted to be sure. We don't need Shadow trying to start anything when he sees we're together now," he says.

I automatically hum in agreement, but then I realize what he just said: 'We're together now.' Maybe he just means 'together' as in, 'we're both occupying the same space at this moment,' or 'just seeing us within ten feet of each other would be enough for Shadow to go on a murderous rampage,' but I don't think him seeing us should be a major concern right now. I don't think he's standing outside the apartment with binoculars.

We just sit like that for a while, Knuckles lying back on the bed and holding me while I lay on his chest. I kind of forgot how nice this feels. Even before Shadow and I started having problems, we didn't do this kind of thing often. I didn't expect Shadow to be the cuddling type, but it still would have been nice every now and again.

I don't know why I keep thinking about Shadow. He isn't here, and that's the end of it. Wherever he is, I'm willing to bet he isn't drying any tears thinking about me, so I'm not going to do that for him.


	16. Chapter 16

"Let's do something, Knuckles. Let's go somewhere," I say, sitting up and hopping off the bed. Knuckles looks startled for a moment, then smiles and nods. "There's a carnival near the beach downtown, we should get Tails and go," I say, already heading towards the door. I hear Knuckles get off the bed and follow me. I am going to have a good time, with or without Shadow.

Once we get outside the apartment, I grab Knuckles and run to Tails' house. When we get there, Tails is sitting outside talking to Amy. Great, now we'll have to invite her, too. I mean, I don't mindAmy tagging along, but all the hugging and whatnot gets pretty annoying pretty fast. As expected, when she sees me she stops herself mid-sentence to leap up and lunge herself towards me. I almost step aside so she misses, but I decide against it. "What are you doing here, Sonic?" she asks after she releases me from her death-grip of a hug.

"Knuckles and I came to see if Tails wanted to come to the carnival with us," I say, somewhat reluctantly. Amy passing up an opportunity to hang out with me would be a sign of the apocalypse. I'm starting to lose feeling in my arm from all the times she's grabbed onto it.

She squeals in excitement and wastes no time inviting herself, just as I expected her to. Tails agrees to come along, and since me carrying Knuckles and Amy while Tails flies would look kind of ridiculous, we walk there.

When we get there, to my complete and utter shock, Amy tags along with Tails. Maybe he told her to because he thought Knuckles and I still needed to sort things out. That's the only explanation I can think of for why Amy decided to unglue herself from me for more than ten seconds. Knuckles wastes no time taking advantage of this and starts pulling me towards every game there. At first I don't mind, maybe Knuckles really likes carnivals or something, but after a while he starts to get a little too touchy-feely for my tastes.

I'm minding my business, trying to play one of the games, and Knuckles keeps looking for a reason to put his hands on me.

"You should throw it like this, Sonic," he says, one hand on my waist and the other adjusting the position of my wrist. Because this is totally necessary. How could I possibly continue life without learning the sacred art of throwing rings at empty bottles? Once Knuckles finishes teaching me, I win some giant fluffy pink heart. What am I supposed to do with this? The yellow canary who's standing behind the counter looks from me to Knuckles and winks at me before handing me the prize. Um, okay.

He does things like that the whole time we're there. I thought being away from Amy would mean I wouldn't have to worry about someone clinging to me all day, but it seems Knuckles has decided he wants to take her place. He never struck me as the huggy-type, but I guess it gets lonely up on Angel Island.

When we meet up with Tails and Amy again, I toss Amy the prize I won. Might as well just make her day with that. "You won this for me, Sonic?" she says, her eyes practically sparkling with joy.

"Not really. I won some game and the lady handed it to me. I certainly don't want it, and I figured you would," I say nonchalantly. She looks a little disappointed, but that doesn't make her stop clutching that fluffy heart-thing. Knuckles apparently sees this as another opportunity to try latching himself onto me. He puts his hands on my waist, but this time I turn around and give him a look that clearly conveys that I want him to get off of me. He complies and puts his hands up in defense jokingly. I glance over at Tails and Amy, and Tails gives me a skeptical look but doesn't say anything. Amy doesn't seem to be paying attention. She's probably trying to figure out of if there's room in her Sonic shrine to put that heart-thing.

We walk around for a bit before we spot that strength meter thing, where you have to take a hammer and try to hit the bell. Tails and I go to the food stand next to it while Knuckles and Amy wait in line. They don't have any chili dogs, so I get funnel cake, like Tails. After we get our food, we see Amy is using her own hammer to hit the weight, which is probably cheating, but no one has the nerve to stop her. She hits the bell, then it's Knuckles' turn. He hits the weight so hard the bell comes shooting off, and after tossing the last of my food into my mouth I run to grab it before it lands.

"Woops. Guess I overdid it," he says, smiling sheepishly. I hand the bell to guy standing by the meter, who looks so astonished I don't think he even realizes he's holding it now. Afterwards, Knuckles and Tails race each other to some game at the end of the pier, leaving me alone with Amy. Joy.

She actually looks calm as she watches them run ahead of us, instead of assaulting me like she usually does. After they're a good distance away, she speaks. "Is there something you want to tell me about you and Knuckles?" she asks, her tone implying that I'm trying to hide something. I didn't expect that question, but I try not to let my surprise show on my face.

"Like what?" I ask. I know what she's thinking, and Knuckles should be the one she asks this to. He's the one who can't keep his hands off me. Not that I really blame him. I'd be all over me, too.

"You two have been awfully close today. You thought I didn't notice, didn't you?" she asks, a satisfied smile on her face. She doesn't try to hide that she still likes me, but I guess she's past the stage where she gets angry at people for daring to look at me.

I shrug my shoulders. I guess Amy is more observant than I thought. "You _sure_ you two don't have anything going on? Nothing Shadow would be upset about?" she asks curiously, leaning forward as she walks beside me and eagerly awaiting my response. So that's why she brought this up. She saw Shadow and Knuckles fighting over me at her party a couple of weeks ago, and today she sees Knuckles all over me. I guess that does look pretty scandalous. I really don't feel like explaining anything, and it's none of her business anyway, so I don't give her any details.

"No, Amy. There's nothing going on," I say. I just hope she doesn't ask me where Shadow is.

"So how are you and Shadow? Things going okay?" she asks instead. That's just as bad, if not worse. I don't want to lie and say we're doing okay, but I don't want to tell the truth and have her ask me a million and one questions about what happened. I'm not even completely sure what happened, so it's not like I could do a very good job of explaining.

"Yeah, we're fine," I opt for the lie. She keeps giving me this weird smile, like she knows I'm hiding something and she's onto me, but she doesn't ask anything else.

When Knuckles and Tails finish playing their game, we start to head home. Amy's house is the closest, so we stop by there first. After she leaves, not before hugging me and fracturing a couple of ribs, we head to Tails' place. He yawns and waves goodbye, and Knuckles and I start to leave.

"You heading back to Angel Island?" I ask as we walk away from Tails' house.

"Oh, well…I was hoping I could go back to your place," he says. Oh.

"I don't know, Knuckles. We've been together all day, and I'm getting kinda tired, so…" I say, shrugging. I just want to go home, watch a movie or something, and go to bed. I'm not in the mood for what Knuckles is thinking about right now.

He nods and rubs the back of his head nervously, darting his eyes away from mine. "Yeah, no, sure…I just…it's fine. I'll head home," he sputters, shaking his head and waving his hand like it's no big deal. I nod and tell him goodbye before speeding off to my apartment. When I get there, I lay my head against the door after closing it and sigh. Just before I start to walk towards my bedroom, a familiar deep voice startles me.

"Long night, Sonic?" I hear him ask.

I guess Shadow _did_ plan on coming back.


	17. Chapter 17

Well, I'm certainly glad I decided not to bring Knuckles back here, that's for sure.

Shadow is just sitting in the kitchen with all the lights out, like that's a perfectly normal thing to do. Part of me wants to run over and kiss him, but the other more rational side of me wants to tell him to go back wherever he's been hiding the past few days and stay there. I hear the stool he's sitting on shift before he walks over to where I'm standing in front of the door. He doesn't say anything more, just wraps his arms around my waist and kisses me.

I shouldn't be letting him do this. I should be pushing him off. I shouldn't be pulling him closer to me, but that's what I'm doing. When I hear myself moan into the kiss I want to pull away so I can slap myself, but I don't. I let him push me against the door and put his hands all over me.

When we finally pull away from each other, I flip the light switch next to the door so we can actually see each other. Shadow has a small, but smug smile on his face, like he knew I wouldn't be able to resist him and I proved him right. Whatever. He's the one who came back and threw himself at me, so clearly he was the one who couldn't stay away.

It takes a lot of self control to stop myself from letting him lead me into the bedroom, but I manage. I pull my arm away from him just as we reach the door and take a step backwards. "You think you can just storm out of here and disappear for days without telling me where you were, then come back, and act like nothing happened?" I ask, searching his face for a reaction. He doesn't look angry for once, so I guess that's progress. Maybe he was out finding a therapist.

"I needed to blow off some steam, Sonic. Is that so bad?" he asks. Pfft. I guess I'm the one who's overreacting now. Never mind the fact that he's the one who threw a hissy fit and ran out because I tried to talk to him.

Well, he did come back, so at least I know we're still-

Oh, crap.

Oh, crap.

Oh, crap.

Oh, crap.

Shadow came back. Which means we're still together. And I slept with…

I am _so_ stupid.

If I had known that Shadow was planning on coming back, I would have never even thought about sleeping with Knuckles. I was just…I was really mad, and Knuckles had kissed me earlier, and Shadow was…

I am so royally screwed right now.

I make sure not to let my terror show on my face, and I guess I do a pretty good job of it. Shadow pulls me against him again and rests his forehead on mine. "I know I was being…difficult, Sonic," he says in that deep voice of his.

"That's putting it mildly," I interject. He gives a small smile and gives me a quick kiss before grabbing my hand and leading me into the bedroom again.

The bedroom where Knuckles was just a few days ago.

I'm probably imagining it, but I think I can physically feel the guilt choking me right now.

I can't do this. I can't get in bed with Shadow and pretend nothing is wrong when I know something is terribly wrong and when Shadow finds out, all this smooth-talking, nice guy stuff is going to go right out the window along with Knuckles' dead body. Okay, maybe I'm being a little gruesome, but this _is_ Shadow, after all. I mean, I can take him in a fight, but I don't want it to come to that. But I know I have to tell him eventually, and unless Shadow was out finding some hardcore happy pills, I know he's not going to take it well.

"Where were you, anyway?" I ask after letting him pull me into our bedroom. He lies down on his side of the bed while I sit up next to him after we kick our shoes off.

"Out and about. I don't need to sleep much, I _am _-"

"The Ultimate Life Form. Yeah, yeah, I get it," I say before laying my head on his chest and pulling his arm around me. He snickers and runs his hand down my arm, and for a moment I forget just how much deep shit I'm in. I shouldn't be enjoying this so much. Even if what happened with me and Knuckles never happened, I still shouldn't be snuggling up with Shadow like nothing in the past couple of weeks ever happened. I'm not forgetting about how he locked me out of the apartment, or how he acted at Amy's party. If anything, me sleeping with Knuckles makes us even.

Or maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better about sluttin' it up after Shadow left.

He pushes me off of him gently and turns on his side so we're facing each other, centimeters apart. "What were you doing while I was gone?" he asks. He doesn't ask it accusingly, but I can't help but get slightly nervous.

"Nothing much," I say, doing a pretty decent job of hiding my unease. "Just thinking of all the numerous ways I'd like you to apologize to me. I'm still waiting, by the way," I say, remembering that I have yet to hear him say he's sorry. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've _ever _heard Shadow genuinely apologize for something. He doesn't look like he has any intention on doing that now, either. He's just looking at me with a faint smile on his face, like giving me bedroom eyes is supposed to make me forgive him for everything. It might work if part of me wasn't expecting him to grab the pillow he's laying on and try to smother me with it. He's always going on about being the Ultimate Life Form, maybe that Professor gave him the ability to read minds and he's kept that a secret so he can always have an edge on everyone. Well, if that's true, he knows I'm onto him.

Okay, maybe I'm being ridiculous.

He doesn't know. The only way he will ever find out is if I tell him. And if I want this to be an honest relationship, I have to tell him. That is, if I want this to be a relationship at all. The idea of breaking up with Shadow once and for all has been bouncing around my head enough to cause severe migraines, and I suddenly find myself very indecisive. If I break up with him for good, I won't have to tell him what happened, I won't have to deal with his tantrums, and I could find a new guy who isn't on the brink of a homicidal rampage at all times. But I also won't be with him on his nice days, when he's actually a fairly pleasant person to be around, like now.

I don't know what I'm going to do about this later on, but right now, I'll just enjoy how nice Shadow is being until whatever drugs he took on his little vacation wear off and he goes back to asshole mode.


End file.
